


One More Time

by egosoffire



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Amnesia, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-27
Updated: 2019-02-27
Packaged: 2019-11-06 08:11:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17936072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/egosoffire/pseuds/egosoffire
Summary: “Tony, we’ve slept together. I thought you remembered, but as much as I’ve dropped hints, it’s clear you do not.”





	One More Time

**Author's Note:**

> For prompt - amnesia.

Stephen is in his lap, lips pressed to Tony’s neck. Tony tilts his head back and moans, hands on Stephen’s lower back. With the wizard in just an ordinary t-shirt, it’s clear how much muscle Stephen hides under those thick robes. “You’re brilliant,” he exhales as Stephen nips at the uncovered flesh of his shoulder. The man is a work of art in every sense, and Tony is falling in love.

Stephen inhales and there’s an abrupt pull backwards. Stephen looks to Tony with wide eyes. The swirling galaxies he sees every time he looks into those blue eyes are on fire.

“I can’t.”

Stephen pulls back and gets off of him. He rises, a confounded mess. His belt buckle is undone and his lips are tinged with crimson. Tony rises. He buttons the button on his jeans and then approaches with caution. He isn’t sure why, but Stephen is staring at him with both hesitance and terror. 

“Hey, did I do something wrong?” he pleads, hand on Stephen’s shoulder.

“No,” Stephen says. “Not today.”

“Not today?”

Stephen stammers. He squeezes his hands together. Pacing to the side, he forces the words out, replying, “Tony, do you recall the New York Memorial Benefit Gala of 2006?”

Tony can’t say he does. There were always benefits, always galas, and they blurred together. He shakes his head no.

“Tony, we’ve slept together. I thought you remembered, but as much as I’ve dropped hints, it’s clear you do not.”

Tony shakes his head at that, a nervous laugh forming in his chest. “What the hell are you talking about?” he asks.

Stephen sighs. 

“December 2006,” he murmurs. “I got you alone, and I was all proud of myself. Full of myself too, but that was just... me then. I was so proud that I got you to talk. We talked for a long time, small-talk, a little about my work in neuroscience. You told me I was beautiful.”

Tony cannot remember that night, but Stephen’s words stir him. He feels like they are truth, but they are behind a wall. Standing tall, the wall prevents him from passing.

The sorcerer sits on the sofa opposite them, a tiny piece of furniture that presses against the window. “You said my eyes reminded you of galaxies,” Stephen admits, a redness crossing his face that almost looks out of place. “Just like you always say now. We talked, we flirted and, long story short, you took me to a room.”

Tony blinks.

“Why don’t I remember?” he whispers, the apparent amnesia that’s plaguing him a knife to the heart.

“I saw you were intoxicated,” Stephen admits. “Now, today,  I’m older and I know more, I wouldn’t have allowed it to happen. You were too gone to consent. But, even then, though, I didn’t see just how intoxicated…”

Tony knew how to hide being less-than-coherent back then. Forcefully, Tony thinks on the man he was twelve years prior. He had been a mess, and that had alternated from a functional mess, and a very-much not functional one. December was a rough month for him, and still is, to this day. He has a feeling Stephen met him during one of his less than functional moments.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers. “I... I want to remember so much.”

Stephen’s facial features crumble beneath his usual armors. Tony can tell, even though Stephen wants to keep this hidden from him, that Stephen is as desperate for him to remember as he is.

Why can’t he remember?

“It was nice,” Stephen whispers. “You were nervous and admitted to inexperience with other men. I had... little experience myself, but we made it work in that giggly, inexperienced kind of manner.”

“I’m so sorry, Stephen,” he responds. Tony walks up to the sorcerer and lays both hands flat on his shoulders. “I can’t apologize to you enough for this. I was... a mess for most of my life.  From like the mid 90s to Afghanistan, even though I fluctuated between levels of messed up.”

“I am not... I’m not angry with you.” Stephen struggles with the words and Tony recognizes them as a lie. “It‘s just hurt. I’ve been hurt for over twelve years now… You and I slept together and you didn’t call me, didn’t get in contact. I’ve had one-night stands before, but I thought what was happening was... more.”

Tony wishes he could remember, but he can see how the scene played out. A phone number left on a nightstand, a promise to call. That was the Tony Stark of a more promiscuous, more desperate youth. This was a man he hated.

“I have feelings for you,” Tony murmurs. He hesitates to tell Stephen that he’s falling (even though he is), because he knows he hasn’t earned that. The man he was in the past is still haunting the brilliant man before him. “I have intense, crazy feelings for you and I... I want to explore them, but I understand if this keeps us from doing so.”

Stephen kisses him. It’s surprising, and it feels like it comes out of nowhere. His hands have been on Stephen’s shoulders. It seems sporadic, an impulse more than an action. Tony returns the kiss, lips pressed to the other’s. He wants nothing more than to kiss him forever.

“No,” he whispers against Tony’s lips. The hot breath between them mingles in a way that makes Tony feel like he’s at home. “I want this, Tony. I’m just... I have to let go of the past. That’s not you.”

“It’s not,” Tony assures. “Stephen, I can’t... I can’t change who I used to be. I can apologize for it, sure, but I can’t change it. I was someone who dealt with damage in a way that was... beyond screwed up. I’m still kind of screwed up, but I’m trying in ways I never imagined before.”

“I know it. I admire you. So much.”

“I want to see if this will work out. I want to give you some good memories, memories you can be thankful for.”

Stephen’s lips were a promise to try. He wanted to erase how it felt then. He wanted a future.

  
  



End file.
